Method, Electronic Device and Computer Program Product for File Management

1. A method of file management, comprising: obtaining a path list of a plurality of paths indicating storage locations of files in a storage unit; setting a threshold; determining a common path level number; generating an extended list based on the path list, the extended list comprising a set of residue paths corresponding to paths from the path list that have the same subpath that starts from a root directory and ends at a directory corresponding to the common path level number, each of the residue paths comprising a path of the corresponding storage location less the subpath; generating an identifier indicating storage location of the extended list; updating the path list by replacing in the path list each path corresponding to the set of paths with the subpath that starts from the root directory and ends at the directory corresponding to the common path level number and the identifier; and, wherein the common path level number is determined as a level number resulting in number of paths having the same subpath surpassing the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the extended list comprises: sorting the paths in the path list in an order of directory names; selecting the set of paths from the sorted paths based on the common path level number; and generating the extended list to comprise the set of paths.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein selecting the set of paths from the sorted paths comprises: performing a deduplication operation on the sorted paths to obtain deduplicated paths; and selecting the set of paths from the deduplicated paths.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the identifier indicating the extended list comprises at least one of the following: generating a first identifier to indicate the subpath; or generating a second identifier to indicate an address of the extended list.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the path list comprises: removing the set of paths from the path list; and inserting the identifier of the extended list into the path list.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: comparing a first candidate path in a set of candidate paths with the paths in the path list; in response to the first candidate path matching the identifier of the extended list, searching in the extended list for a path corresponding to the first candidate path; and in response to finding the path corresponding to the first candidate path in the extended list, identifying the first candidate path as a key path.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising: in response to all candidate paths in the set of candidate paths matching the identifier of the extended list having been compared with the paths in the path list, removing the extended list.

8. An electronic device for file management, the device comprising: a processor; and a memory storing computer program instructions, the processor executing the computer program instructions in the memory to control the electronic device to perform operations, the operations comprising: obtaining a path list of a plurality of paths indicating storage locations of files in a storage unit; setting a threshold; determining a common path level number; generating an extended list based on the path list, the extended list comprising a set of residue paths corresponding to paths from the path list that have the same subpath that starts from a root directory and ends at a directory corresponding to the common path level number, each of the residue paths comprising a path of the corresponding storage location less the subpath; generating an identifier indicating storage location of the extended list; updating the path list based on the identifier by removing the set of paths from the path list and inserting instead the identifier of the extended list into the path list, the identifier comprising the subpath that starts from the root directory and ends at the directory corresponding to the common path level number; and, wherein the common path level number is determined as a level number resulting in number of paths having the same subpath surpassing the threshold.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein generating the extended list comprises: sorting the paths in the path list in an order of directory names; determining a common path level number corresponding to the extended list; selecting the set of paths from the sorted paths based on the common path level number; and generating the extended list to comprise the set of paths.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein selecting the set of paths from the sorted paths comprises: performing a deduplication operation on the sorted paths to obtain deduplicated paths; and selecting the set of paths from the deduplicated paths.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein generating the identifier indicating the extended list comprises at least one of the following: generating a first identifier to indicate the subpath; or generating a second identifier to indicate an address of the extended list.

12. The device of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise: comparing a first candidate path in a set of candidate paths with the paths in the path list; in response to the first candidate path matching the identifier of the extended list, searching, in the extended list for a path corresponding to the first candidate path; and in response to finding the path corresponding to the first candidate path in the extended list, identifying the first candidate path as a key path.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise: in response to all candidate paths in the set of candidate paths matching the identifier of the extended list having been compared with the paths in the path list, removing the extended list.

14. A non-transitory computer storage medium having machine executable instructions stored therein, which when executed by a device, cause the device to perform operations, the operations comprising: obtaining a path list of a plurality of paths indicating storage locations of files in a storage unit; setting a threshold; determining a common path level number; generating an extended list based on the path list, the extended list comprising a set of residue paths corresponding to paths from the path list that have the same subpath that starts from a root directory and ends at a directory corresponding to the common path level number, each of the residue paths comprising a path of the corresponding storage location less the subpath; generating an identifier indicating the extended list; and updating the path list based on the identifier by removing the set of paths from the path list and inserting instead the identifier of the extended list into the path list, the identifier comprising the subpath that starts from the root directory and ends at the directory corresponding to the common path level number; and, wherein the common path level number is determined as a level number resulting in number of paths having the same subpath surpassing the threshold.